Improvement in bale-band tighteneb



@uitrit tetre atenzt ffies,

'ro ALL WHoM Ir MAY CONGERN;

PLATT C. LINGERSOLL, '0F GREENPOINT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 -HIMSELF i iAND H. F. DOUGHERTY, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters .Patent No. 66,087,l dated June 25, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN BALB-BAND TIGHTENER.

Be it known that LPLATT C. INGERSYOLL, of Greenpoint, i-n the county ofKings, and State of New York, have invented a new and improved Bale-BandTightener and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had totheaecompanying drawings, making a portion of this specification,- inwhich- I Figure 1 is a plan or top view of a band-tightener constructedaccording to my invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the same. i

Similar. letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

This invention is designed as a substitute lfor the hand-spike commonlyemployed 'in tightening the rope bands of cotton and other bales; and it.consists in a'lever furnished at one end with two clamping links orgrippers, which operate to clasp the end of the band and enable the sameto be drawn up to-any desired degree of' tightness, wherebyttheinconvenience and lossl of time necessitated by winding the end of theband upon the handspike, as in the common method of tightening, iscompletely ob viated.

To enable othersto understand the constrnctioniand operation ofm'yinvention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to thedrawings. 4

A represents a lever which may be of wood, and of any desired o1'suitable length, and which has one of 4its ends made Atapering as shownat a. `Upon one side of this tapered end 'ofthe lever A is secured a atmetal plate, ,the outer extremity of which projects beyondthe extremityof the lever, and is made toothed or serrated, as shown more plainly infig. 1, in order that'it may be made to catch when desiredl in the sideofthe bale during Athe operation .of tightening the bands' thereon, aswillbe hereinafter further set forth. B represents a clamping-link orgripper, the inner end of which is pivoted to the lever A, near the enda thereof, by means i of a transverse pin, c. Another clamping-link orgripper is shown at C, and in like manner pivoted to the lever A by asimilar transverse pin, d, but nearer the middle portion thereof thanthe gripper B, and at a suitable distance from the said gripper, theoutermost end or portion ofthe gripper 'C being made narrower than thecorresponding end of the other gripper in order that when the twogrippers are broughtinto a position transverse to each other, as shown.in `tho drawings, the said outer portion of the gripper VC will pass.through the corresponding portion of the other gripper B. The band beingpassed around the bale in the'usual o1' in any "suitable manner, thefree end thereof is rst passed through both of the grippers B C, andthen back over the outer end of the gripper C, and under that of thegripper B, or, in other words, between the outer ends of the.

said grippers, in such inanner that when a strain is exerted upon theband, a portion of which is shown in red outline in g. 1, the said en dsof' the grippers will be drawn toward each other and clamp the bandbetween them with a degree of pressure proportioned to the strainexerted upon the band; the said strain being secured by first placingthe end a of the lever either under the lower edge of the bale orcatching. the tooth or serrated extremity thereof into the side of thesaid bale as hereinbefore mentioned, and then forcing downward theopposite or long arm of the lever, so that by these means the band maybe tightly secured upon the lever during the operation of tightening theband, thus enabling the said operation to be performed without thetrouble and loss of time involved in securing the end of the band to thehand-spike in the ordinary manner of tightening the band.

What IY claim asv new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is--A Theclamping-links or grippers B C, in combination with each otherand withthe lever A, substantially :is herein set forth for the purposespecified. A Y

PLATT C. INGERSOLL.

Witnesses J. W. Goonies, Gro; W. REED.

